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I took the Dostoyevsky plunge.
I’m a fan of the modern. Architecture, music, cars, art, whatever. iTunes, not vinyl. City of God, not Casablanca. Give me complexity, revelation, the heady thrill of the avant-garde!
Even then, on rare occasions I find the only reason I plough through a book is to have read it. Even if I’m not particularly enjoying the process, I at least get some satisfaction from seeing the bookmark’s progress. When I do reach the final page I almost sigh with relief: “That’s that one done.” It’s now part of my vocabulary, more well-thumbed proof of my cultured existence. Pretty shallow, eh?
I really expected Crime and Punishment to be similar - a Thing To Do Before You Die rather than something I’d particularly enjoy. Thankfully I’ve surprised myself: I’m bloody loving it. Not as dense and morbid as I’d expected, brilliantly written with what seems to be quite an approachable translation.
Put it this way, it’s ousted my iPod on the tram to work. Sometimes modernity has to take a back seat.
“A classic is a book everyone wants to have read, but nobody wants to read” - Mark Twain
Categories: dostoyevsky, literature, crime, novel
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I salute the honesty in this post. I tend to feel the same way about book-reading: the cultural equivalent of eating your greens. Given this, I’m inclined to follow your lead regarding Dostoyevsky.